


Tough Ride

by AnxiousCoffee (TheHallowedAngel)



Series: Silence In Common [2]
Category: Chicago Fire
Genre: Gen, M/M, Motion Sick Kelly, Motion Sickness, Protective Matt Casey, Sick Kelly Severide, Travel Sickness, Travel sick, Vomit, Vomiting, emeto, emetophobic Kelly, motion sick, sevacey only if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-14 12:50:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16913178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHallowedAngel/pseuds/AnxiousCoffee
Summary: Kelly doesn't handle every day travel too well, adrenaline sees him through journeys in the firetrucks and driving allows him to focus enough on something else to be fine but when it comes to riding in the passenger seat of, for example, Matt's truck, things start to turn. Literally.AKA: That fic where Kelly pukes at the side of the highway.(Featuring emetophobe!Kelly, as hinted to in the previous part of this series.)





	Tough Ride

**Author's Note:**

> Born from a headcanon that first hit me about a week ago. It was gonna happen eventually, so here's some Kelly emeto for anyone who craves it~
> 
> A huge thanks to my good friend, Emily, for beta reading this and correcting my grammar <3 you're a gem and I'm so glad I'm able to call you a friend

Two guys, two bags, one weekend in the woodlands. Just them and their senses against the wilderness; what could be more fun than that? Except, as Casey had pointed out a couple times, just staying in civilisation for the two night stretch and getting drunk on cheap beer. Kelly was having none of it though.

As agreed, Matt pulled up outside of Kelly and Shay’s apartment building at 4 in the afternoon in his truck, pressed the horn once, and then got out to wait for him. He leant his back against the door of the truck and crossed his arms over his chest, watching the building silently. A few moments passed before the window in Kelly’s shared flat opened and Severide stuck his head out, folding his arms over the frame and leaning forward on them.

“I’ll be down in a sec!” and with that he waved and disappeared back inside. Matt found himself smiling with absolutely no intention to.

He and Kelly hadn’t been friends for as long as some people in the house but their relationship was tighter than those they had with anyone else. When they ran into fires Kelly was always the first thing on his mind, and when they ran back out Kelly was the first face he searched for in the masses of people. 

Now that Matt thought about it, there were all these little things they did before and after a call. If only one were going they wouldn't say ‘good luck’ or ‘see you soon’ or anything like that, they would just say “don't get lost”. Not because either were worried the other would turn up at the wrong house or forget the way home but because they had to remember why they were there. They had to remember that they had a reason to get back to the station, too.

And when they made it out together, Kelly had this stupid looking grin he would offer to Matt, a goofy lopsided one that he rarely showed anyone else. And Matt would always,  _ always _ , smile back, and he would feel his cheeks flush when he did. They were family, closer than friends, almost. 

Matt frowned. It was his own trial of thought but he wasn't sure what to make of it. Closer than friends, well that could mean a lot of things. But what did it mean to him?

“Closer than friends…” he tested the words aloud as if he thought they would make more sense that way, not even realising Kelly was walking towards him.

“Who's closer than friends?” Kelly said, startling Matt back to earth. 

Casey cleared his throat and uncrossed his arms, scratching the back of his neck.

“Hmm? Oh, no one, I was just thinking about how weird it sounded. ‘Closer than friends’? I don't know, man, it just doesn't make sense.” he swore his cheeks were heating up but Kelly didn't seem to question it if he  _ were _ blushing, seeming to think about what he'd said.

“You're thinking too deep into it, Matt, seriously.” he let out a chuckle as he threw his back into the bed of the truck. 

“Yeah, guess so.” Matt spoke quietly, shrugging. Severide made a move to walk around to the driver's side, Matt stopped him. “Woah woah  _ woah _ , hold on. What do you think you're doing?”

Kelly, about to open the door, froze, hand hovering over the door handle. 

“Driving?” He says, raising an eyebrow.

“Uh, no. My truck, I drive.” Casey pulled his keys out of his pocket, holding them up for Severide to see; he grinned.

“Funny, never hear you say that about 81.” Kelly shrugged, shooting Matt a playful smirk.

“Yeah well, I don’t pay the insurance for  _ that _ truck, do I? C’mon, move.” he rounded the truck and shoved Kelly’s shoulders, shooing him to the other side.

Matt couldn’t put his finger on it, no matter how hard he tried, but something seemed to be bothering Kelly. Something he likely wasn’t going to mention.

-

They had just pulled onto the highway when Kelly fell silent. Up until then he and Matt had been throwing banter between themselves, laughing and joking and just  _ having fun _ . But now it was quiet, Matt was casting the occasional glance over to Kelly and growing more and more concerned each time. 

Compared to his usual complexion the guy was pale as a ghost and he was sweating like it was 80 degrees out today. He was staring out of the window, one hand propping his head up and covering his mouth, the other in his lap, clenching and unclenching sporadically.

“Kelly, you okay?” He alternated between looking at the road and looking at Severide, concern etched into his features. 

The other lieutenant hesitated, taking a deep breath and swallowing before he even turned away from the scenery. 

“Yeah, ‘m okay.” there was a pause, another breath, then he continued, “How much longer ‘till we get there?”

Casey waited for the next marker to come up and hen ran the numbers in his head. 

“We’re about an hour and a half out, give or take.”

“Can you pull over at the next stop? Need to take a leak.” Kelly was lying, he knew it and Matt knew it but Matt nodded all the same.

“Sure, no problem.”

-

Maybe half an hour passed, nothing was said by either of them and since the radio was broken the truck was in complete silence- besides the engine. 

From what Matt gathered through his glances to the right Kelly was only getting worse. He had gone from pale to almost grey, the only time his hand came away from his mouth was so he could spit out of the window, he was breathing quite erratically at this point as well. 

Casey was about to say something when Kelly took his hand away from his mouth and spoke up, voice strained and urgent.

“Matt, I’m sorry, you’re gonna have to pull over.” on the tail end of his words was a sick sounding belch and Kelly couldn’t press a fist to his lips fast enough.

Matt couldn’t find the right words to say so he just nodded and pulled into the hard shoulder that was, thankfully, less than 100 yards in front of them. He put the truck into park just as Kelly fumbled with his seat belt and threw the door open. He didn’t bother to get out, settling, instead, for shuffling to the edge of the seat and planting both feet on the ground, hanging his head in his hands.

Matt unclipped himself and moved over so that he was all but sat on Kelly’s side with him, squeezing his shoulders. 

Past experiences with Kelly had taught him a few things. One; Kelly, while not opposed to being touched,  _ hated _ having his back rubbed, the best bet was always to either hold his waist or his shoulders, depending on the situation. Two; he despised puking. He was afraid of it, almost, ad as far as Matt knew it all stemmed from an unpleasant childhood memory that he couldn’t get out of his head. Three; it was really rough on him, once he started he couldn’t stop and it always sounded incredibly painful. Though a lot of the discomfort can likely be credited to the fact that he always holds it back for as long as he can manage.

“Okay, Kelly, just let it out, man.” Matt used his thumbs to run circles over Kelly’s shoulders, trying to coax him into relaxing a little. He felt Severide’s shoulder jump with a suppressed heave, shaking under Matt’s hands. Matt could tell he was getting worked up, and once again based on the past, it was likely that they’d have about five minutes before the inevitable melt down.

Another fought gag had Kelly’s back arching into Matt’s chest, fingers clenching around fistfuls of his hair.

Nausea was tying his insides up and Kelly could feel the cold sweat running down his back, gut churning around and around and around. He swore it felt like he’d been thrown in the dryer with all the clothes and it looked like it too, the ground was swaying right before his eyes it it was only making his vertigo worse. His breath hitched in his throat, caught on a sob, and he tensed up.

“I don’t-” another attempt at a sharp intake, once again it was cut short. “Don’t wanna-”

Casey gently shushed him, moving one hand to cup the back of Kelly’s neck. He could feel Kelly relaxing as soon as the skin on skin contact was made. 

“I can’t, Casey, I-” in the middle of talking, a retch tore from his chest, stomach pushing up his throat and suddenly everything was spilling onto the concrete. Matt flinched as a rush of last shift’s dinner- spaghetti bolognese Matt recalled -splattered between Severide’s shoes, accompanied by a guttural gurgling sound that made Matt’s own stomach turn. 

Severide coughed and spluttered and barely got in any air before the next heave rolled up his spine, sick washing over his tongue and dripping out of his nose as panic seized his body. He couldn’t breath, his nostrils stinging so much that he didn’t dare try to breathe, settling instead for just giving in and letting his body purge everything.

Somewhere in the haze he heard Matt telling him to breathe, Kelly was too busy trying not to puke on his own shoes though, coughing up a weak stream of bile and acid and what he imagined was coffee at one point.

-

Three more times he threw up before he was so close to passing out that he had no choice but to suck in as much air as he could, white spots spreading throughout his entire field of vision and hearing fading in and out. Tears were streaming down his face and dripping from his chin, vomit and spit dangling from his lips. He was a mess, trying his best not to start sobbing as his entire body shook, heart thumping in his ears and chest tightening.

“Hey, Kel, c’mon man, don’t get lost,” those words,  _ the _ words. Matt shook him gently and rubbed his thumb over the back of Kelly’s neck and instantly he felt the fear and discomfort drain away. Kelly sniffed, nodded, and pulled his shirt up to wipe his eyes and then made an attempt to clean his chin; Matt stopped him before he could. 

“Nasty, Kelly, nasty. Here,” Matt gave a breathy chuckle and then his hands were gone, Kelly found himself missing them. Missing the comfort and warmth that came with them. 

Severide turned his head just enough to watch Matt dig around in his door pocket and produce a napkin that was no doubt older than the truck itself, handing it over to Kelly. He took it, thanking him very quietly.

“Now, Severide, you can’t be telling me you get travel sick, surely?” Matt was smiling, Kelly could hear it in his voice.

“Shut it, Casey.” Kelly replied, not harshly, and wiped the tissue over his face, sniffing again before opting to blow his nose. He let the silence settle for a small while; he knew Matt wouldn’t drop this until he was given an explanation.

He scrunched up the tissue in his hand, watching it slowly attempt to flatten out again. The overpowering smell in his nose was making him want to gag again but he forced the urge down, opting to talk instead.

“Adrenaline has me buzzed enough to and from calls that it doesn’t affect me too much, you know? And when I’m driving it rarely makes me feel sick because I’m focusing on the road. But if I’m in the passenger seat, or worse in the back, it’s like I’m on a- a roller coaster that never stops.” Kelly slowly pulled himself back into the truck, checking his shoes and the hems of his pants before he settled his feet back into the footwell.

He couldn’t stand to stare at the contents of his stomach anymore and the smell was really getting to him. Matt had fished a bag out of who knows where and he was offering it to Kelly, who flushed red but took it all the same, throwing the wad of tissue into it. Matt nodded slowly.

“Fair enough.”

Severide had to do a double-take. 

“Fair enough? That’s it? No teasing or laughing?” It’s not  _ exactly _ like he expected Matt to poke fun at him, but he’d certainly been prepared for it.

“Nah, I can empathise.” Casey shrugged, offering Severide a gentle smile. Kelly felt his heart skip at least three beats and he had too look away before he got stuck in those eyes.  _ That was new. _

“How?” short, sweet, nice.  _ Not like he’ll think you’re stunned at all. _

“Well, I don’t go around telling everyone but I got this think about needles an-”

“No way!”

“Yeah, I know right? Big, bad Matthew Casey can’t get a shot without barfing all over some poor nurse who’s just trying to do their job. This one time I passed out and the nurse had to catch me before I bailed over the side of the gurney and I remember waking up and immediately puking all down _ my _ shirt and  _ her _ shirt and the  _ floor _ . It was a mess.” 

Severide found himself falling into probably the most painful fit of laughter he’s ever been a victim of, having to hold his sides by the end of it to try and keep himself together.

“Jesus, Matt, you really don’t do things by halves, do you?” Kelly was wiping tears from his eyes, cheeks hurting thanks to all the laughing and grinning.

“You know me, Severide, always have to outdo everyone else.” Matt chuckled. “But anyway, maybe you should drive the rest of the way?”


End file.
